Raising and lowering means for gang-plow units.



W. N. SPRINGER.

RAISING AND LOWERING MEANS FOR GANG PLOW UNITS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18; 1913.

1,095,531, Patented May 5, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES INVENTOR fimaaw I W. N. SPRINGER.

RAISING AND LOWERING MEANS FOR GANG PLOW UNITS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 18, 1913.

1,095,531 v Patented May 5, 1914.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR ram-7M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

w'iLLIAiI N. s'rn'INenn, or scorn BnNn, INDI 'ANA, ASSIGNOR To onIvnnCHILLED rnow wonxs, or sou'rn nnNn, INDIANA.

RAISING AND L OWERING MEANS FOR GANG PLOW UNITS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 18, 1913. Serial No. 774,446.

Patented May 5, 1914.

1 ball whom itmay. concern;

of SouthBend, in the county of St. Joseph 5 and State of Indiana, haveinvented certainnew and useful Improvements in Raising and LoweringMeans for Gang-Plow Units;

- and I do hereby declarethe-following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription. of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled i inthe. art to which it appertains to make and use the same. v

ThlS lnventlon relates toumprovements in engine gang plow structures,and more particularly to .p'owen lift mechanism for of;

fecting thez successive raisingand lowering 2 of the severalplowunits,the object of the invention being toprovide asimple-andcompacttmechanism which may be readily con-v trolled forraising the plow units, one after 2 another, and for dropping said plowunits successively. g

. further object is to provide simple. and

efiicient mans for retaining the plow units in raisedpo'sition, and fortripping suchretaming-means. ,to. permit the plow unitsto descend toworking position.

With; theseand other objects in view, the

. I understood that a trip arm 6 is provided -Bei known-that I, WILLIAMN. SPRINGER,

i for each depending arm 4. Each arm 4 is F projection 7 with which oneend of a chain 8 is connected by means of an adjustable hook Each .chain8-,extends downwardly from Its connection with one of the arms 4 andafter passing under apulley 10, is extended rearwardly for connectionwith suitable lifting means on a plow unit. 7 7 When a plowunit isinelevated position the parts W111 assume the positions shown in I Fig.3, with theprop arm resting upon the 1 flange 5 of a trip-arm 6.-

The force exerted by the chains Swill tend to press the arms 4 againstthe'trip arms 6 and retain the lat E ter. in contactswith cams 11 which;are sei cured to a shaft 12 mounted in suitable bearings in the frame le-said cams thus serving as abutmentsfor the trip arms to retain thelatter in proper position to sustain the prop 1 arms when. the levers 3are elevated. The camsll are spirally arrangedso that when the shaft 12is turned, they will operate the i trip arms 6 successively to releasethe prop ping of the levers 3 and-also the plow units inventionconsistsin certain novel features 1 to be lowered to working position,-oneafter of construction and combinations of parts another. Any suitablemeans may be proas hereinafter set forth and pointed outin Vidcd forrotating the cam shaft 12.- For the claims. H 1 5 example, said shaftmaybe provided with-a In the accom anying drawings; Figure} groovedwheel 13 to receive an operating is a plan view showing a portion of therope or cable 14. The cam shaft maybe frame of an engine gang plowstructure and retained in andreturned' to normal position illustratingan embodiment of my improvements; F igi. 2uis a side elevation, withportions of the frame in section, andFig. 3 is a sectional view showingthe. devices for operating one; of the plow units, in elevation.

1 represents a-portion of the frame. for an engine gang plow, with whichthe plow units may be connected in any approved manner, and 2illustratesa drive axle having suitable bearings secured to said frame.

Lifting levers 3, corresponding in. number with the number of plow unitsemployed, are arranged side by side, but spaced short distances apart,and each of these levers is pivotally connected at one end with theframe 1. An arm at is pivotally attached at its upper end to each lever3 and depends therefrom so as to be capable of engaging a flange orshoulder 5 on a-trip. arm 6g.pivota-l1y connected with the frame,'-itbeing of course i by the action of a spring 15,. one end of I which isconnected with the frame 12 and i the other end is connected with theshaft 12.

through the medium of a chain 16, secured i to and adapted to wind on ahub 17 on said shaft. I i For effecting the operation of the levers 3 ito raise the plow units,- successively, the de- I vices now to .bedescribed are employed: A I shaft 18 is located under the levers 3 andmounted in suitable bearings on the frame 1. The shaft 18 carries aplurality of cams 19 to coeperate with rollers 20 mounted on E thelevers 3' between'the ends of the latter, said cams being -so arrangedon the shaft that when the latter is rotated, the levers 3 will beelevated successively to cause the E successive raising of the plowunits.

A large sprocket wheel 21 is mounted provided at its upper pivoted. endwith a l loosely on the shaft 18 and receives motion,

through the medium of a sprocket chain 22, from a smaller sprocket wheel23 secured to the drive axle. The larger sprocket wheel 21 is providedwith a clutch member 24, to coiiperate with a clutch member 25 mountedto rotate with but slidable 011 the shaft 18. A spring 26 encircles theshaft and bears against a collar 27 secured to the shaft, said springtending to force the clutch member 25 into mesh with the clutch member24. The clutch member 25 is made with an annular enlargement 28 and withan .annular flange 29, the latter being provided with a lateral cam 30projecting over the peripheral face of the enlargement 28, and with aperipheral toot-h 31 near the cam 30. An L-shaped lever 32 is pivotallyattached at the juncture of its two arms 33-434 to the frame 1. The arm33 of thislever carries a roller 35, and a spring 36 fixed at one endand attached at its other end to the arm 34, serves to normally pressthe roller 25 toward the clutch. Under normal conditions, the roller 31will be disposed against the side face of the enlargement 28 so as toretain the clutch member 25 out of mesh with the clutch member 24. Whenthe lever 32 is withdrawn (which withdrawing may be accomplished withthe use of a suitable rod 37), the clutch member 25 will be pressed, bythe spring 26-, into mesh with the loose clutch member 24, and thespring 36 will then press the roller against theperipheral face of theenlargement 28 on clutch member 25. Motion will now be vtransmitted fromthe drive axle 2, through the sprocket gearing and clutch to the shaft18, thus causing the operation of the cams 19 to raise the liftinglevers 3 successively, and permit the prop arms 4 to drop onto theflanges 5 of the trip arms 6 to retain said raising levers elevated.When the shaft 18 shall have turned sufficiently to effect the raisingof all the levers 4t and the plow units connected therewith, the lateralcam 30 of the clutch member 25 will engage the roller 35 and cause thewithdrawal of the clutch member 25 from the clutch member 24:, whereuponthe roller 35 will drop alongside the annular enlargement 28 and thetooth 31 will engage the arm 33 of lever 32 to prevent further rotationof the cam shaft 18, so that when the several levers 3 shall have beenoperated, the rotation of the shaft will be stopped with all of the camsout of line with the said levers 3. The levers 3 and the plow units withwhich they are con nected, may now be dropped successively by operatingthe trip arms as hereinbefore described. 1

I do not in this application claim specifically the stop mechanismherein shown and described, the same constituting a separatesubject-matter of invention.

Various slight changes might be made in no aasai the details ofconstruction of my invention without departing from the spirit thereofor limiting its scope and hence I do not wish to restrict myself to theprecise details herein set forth.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent, is

1. In raising and lowering mechanism for gang plow units, thecombination with a frame, of levers pivoted thereto, cams for raisingsaid levers successively, means for operating said cams, arms pivoted toand depending from said levers, lifting chains connected with said arms,trip levers to receive the lower ends of said arms, and means fortripping said trip levers successively.

2. In raising and lowering means for gang plow units, the combinationwith a frame, of levers each pivoted near one end thereto, cams forraising said levers successively, means for operating said cams, proparms pivotally connected thereto and depending therefrom, each of saidprop arms having a projection at its upper end, lifting chains connectedwith the projections of said prop arms, pulleys mounted in the frame andunder which said chains pass, trip levers for said prop arms, and meansfor tripping said trip levers successively to release the prop arms.

3. In raising and lowering means for gang plow units, the combinationwith a frame, and a drive axle, a plurality of levers pivoted thereto, ashaft under said levers,cams carried by said shaft for raising saidlevers successively, prop arms pivoted to said levers, lifting chainsconnected with said prop arms, gearing connecting the drive axle andsaid shaft, a clutch for operatively connecting the gearing with saidshaft. means for operating said clutch, trip levers for the prop arms,and means for operating said trip levers successively to release theprop arms.

l. In raising and lowering means for gang plow units, the combinationwith a frame, of a plurality of levers, means for pivoted to said leversand having projections at their upper ends, a plurality of trip levershaving supports below their up per ends to receive said prop arms, ashaft. adjacent to said trip levers, cams on said shaft constitutingabutments for said trip levers and arranged to trip said trip leverssuccessively to remove the prop arms from the supports thereon, meansfor operating said shaft, lifting chains connected with the projectionsof said prop levers, andlpulleys on the frame, under which the liftingchains pass.

5. In raising and lowering means for engine plow units, the combinationwith a frame, of a plurality of levers, means for raising said leverssuccessively, prop arms Mid raising said levers successively, propspivoted to said levers and having projections at their upper ends, hftmgchains connected said chain for rotating said shaft in the reversedirection.

In testimony whereof,I have signed this with the projections of theprops, trip levers specification in the presence of two subscribtoreceive said props, a shaft adjacent to ing witnesses.

said trip levers, cams on said shaft arranged to trip the trip leverssuccessively torelease the props, means for manually rotating said shaftin one direction, a chain connected 10 with said shaft and a springconnected with WILLIAM N. SPRINGER.

Witnesses-z v EDWIN NICAB, KATE BUCKLEY.

